This invention relates to the cooling of beverages. In particular, this invention relates to the cooling of beverage containers using ice.
It is often desirable to cool beverages prior to consumption. Commonly, beverages are cooled or chilled by refrigerating the container holding the beverage. Although electric refrigerators are found in the kitchens of most homes, when entertaining it may be more convenient to have a means of chilling beverages at the location of the guests. Often this location is a recreation room or another room away from the kitchen.
Portable chest coolers can be filled with ice cubes to chill beverages. However, it can be difficult to properly distribute the beverage containers within the ice. Even if the beverage containers are evenly distributed throughout the ice, taking a container out of a chest cooler often means having to dig though a mixture of ice and water. Moreover, after use, the leftover ice and water must be emptied from the chest cooler. With the potential for leaks, coolers are not always an ideal means of chilling beverages. Additionally, the failure to sufficiently dry the interior of the chest cooler may result in the formation of molds or other mildew that carry an unpleasant odor.
Other cooling devices have been developed, but are not always practical for entertaining. See e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,605,435; D270,985; 4,438,637; 4,625,518; 6,446,461; 7,240,514. Some cooling devices require moveable parts that may prevent easy access to the beverages. Other cooling devices, although portable, are more suited for cooling of beverages for travel than for entertaining. Yet others, such as the cooling devices shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,553, present many of the same issues with disposal of the water.
Hence, a need still exists for improved means of cooling beverages that provides easy access to the beverages without the aforementioned problems of most available coolers.